By Hmayak Ohanyan

The emergence of new players in the Armenian ISP market shattered the positions of the traditional operators. And in light of recent events, the consolidation can become а lifebelt keeping the sinking companies on surface.

It is interesting that some of the providers were discussing the possibility of selling or merging assets yet last year, and the first large takeover took place already this January – the truth to be told – not in the capital, but in the regional market: Apaga Technologies acquired the telecommunications infrastructure of Shirak Technologies, one of the largest operators in Gyumri and Shirak Marz.

The structural changes of the large players are also on the way. MTS, which owns 80% stake in VivaCell-MTS operator, and COMSTAR-UTS, which owns 100% in Cornet, announced the launch of COMSTAR-UTS products and services rebranding to the MTS brand, and this, of course, will reflect the Armenian market. This announcement became the logical extension of increasing the MTS stake in COMSTAR-UTS to 61.97 %. In fact, a convergent operator is being formed in Armenia, which is serving more than 2 million mobile subscribers, owns number capacity to deliver fixed-line voice services across the republic, operational WiMAX network in 20 cities, and an army of corporate and home Internet users.

It’s not that obvious who will manage the new operator. In any case it won’t be easy for the traditional operators to compete with the newly formed giant, and in this context the consolidation is considered the best scenario.